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Obituaries

Jane V. (Soderberg) Pucel passed away in Ely Monday, June 2. 2014.
Born in Soudan, MN in 1919, she attended the Tower-Soudan schools and as a young lady worked at the Tower Box Factory business office. Jane married Fred Pucel in 1954 and moved to Ely where she resided until her death. Jane also worked for many years at Lampert Lumber Company in Ely and later at Boundary Waters Canoe Outfitters.
She was proud of her Swedish heritage and was a member of the Eastern Stars for over sixty years. A terrific cook specializing in Swedish and Slovenian foods, she always had something for visitors to munch on or take home. When not at the cabin at Clear Lake you would find her knitting, picking berries, cooking or talking on the phone with friends discussing local news.

Dardanella R. Pollock, 95, of Jefferson City, Mo., died Thursday, May 29, 2014 at Heisinger Bluffs.
Dardanella was born July 3, 1918 in Ely, Minnesota, the daughter of Joseph and Helen Popovich Milkovich. She was married on December 7, 1942 in Kansas City, MO to Lt. Colonel Carl A. Pollock who preceded her in death in 2002.
She graduated from Ely Memorial High School and has been a resident of the Jefferson City area for the past fifty years.
A homemaker, she had been employed with the Cole County Clerk’s office for several years.
Dardanella was a member of the Cathedral of St. Joseph, the Jefferson City Newcomers, the X-Club, and numerous bridge clubs.

Edgar A. Mulhollam, 88, passed away at Golden Living Center-Greeley in Stillwater, Minnesota on April 29, 2014. Ed was born in Spring Valley, Wisconsin on July 18, 1925.
Ed attended grammar and high school in the Spring Valley area graduating from Spring Valley High. Ed briefly attended the University of Minnesota before being drafted into the US Army during World War II. He saw action in the European Theater in both Italy and France. Ed was awarded the Purple Heart for the wounds he received in France and spent a lengthy recovery period in multiple US hospitals.
Ed continued his education at the University of Minnesota where he met his wife Edith Bohince of Ely. He worked many years as a Financial Analyst for a major industrial electronics firm in Cleveland, Ohio. He spent most of his retirement years in Ely, Minnesota. He recently moved to the St. Paul, Minnesota area to be closer to family members.

Joseph G. Svetin passed away peacefully on May 3, 2014 at the Lower Keys Medical Center at the age of 92.
He was born in Ely, MN in 1921 to a large family of eight. Enduring the great depression, Joe went on to join the Navy in World War II. He became a radio officer and served on various ships in the North Atlantic. Receiving an honorable discharge after the war, he relocated to Lynn, MA where he met and married Eleanor his wife.
Joe lived in Lynn, MA, Middleton, MA, Ely MN, and finally in Big Pine Key, FL. After retiring from AT&T, he and Eleanor traveled extensively throughout Europe, Russia and the United States until she passed away in 2004.

Aloysius "Al" Kachmarzinski, 88, of Babbitt, passed away on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 at the Ely Bloomenson Community Hospital. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 30 with visitation at 10 a.m. at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Babbitt. Family arrangements have been entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home of Ely.

Aloys Ralph Chiabotti, 88, of Eagles Nest died Sunday, May 18, 2014 in the Essentia Health-Virginia Care Center. He was born November 25, 1925 in Tower the son of Louis and Louise (Yapel) Chiabotti and attended Tower-Soudan Schools. Ralph joined the United States Navy and served during WWII in the Pacific Theatre of Operations. He married Lorraine “Sue” Suska on June 16, 1952 in Sobieski, MN and was a lifelong resident of Tower and Eagles Nest. Ralph was the owner/operator of Ralph’s Standard Service; co-owner of Tower LP Gas; and was a school bus driver for 37 years. He was a member of St. Martin’s Catholic Church in Tower, a charter member of the Tower Lions Club, a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Nelson-Jackson American Legion Post # 245 in Tower, the ROMEO coffee club, a retired member of the Eagles Nest Fire Department, a member of the Eagle’s Nest Seniors and the Eagles Nest Lake Association. He also enjoyed woodworking.

Patricia A. Donnick, 75, passed away at the Seasons of Life Hospice House in Woodruff, Wisconsin on May 6, 2014.
She was born on May 27, 1937 in Superior, Wisconsin. After graduating from LaCrosse University in 1959, she taught in the Ely school system as a physical education instructor until she was married in 1963 to Paul Smith.
After living in Oregon for a year and then in Two Harbors, she returned to Ely and continued to teach in the Ely schools and Vermilion Community College, as well as coach the high school ski team and girls’ tennis team. In the 1970s she wrote a column: X-C Skiing for the Ely Echo.
In 1978 she moved to Duluth, where she worked as a principal for several years. Pat then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she taught special ed students for several years, eventually retiring and moving to Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin around the year 2000.

Bonnie Callender, 82, of Ely, passed away on March 28, 2014 at the Boundary Waters Care Center in Ely. Funeral services will be held on Monday, May 19, at 11 a.m.. at Praise Fellowship Church. Family arrangements have been entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home of Ely.